The Discover Daily Telegraph Holiday and Travel Show will celebrate its 25-year anniversary at Manchester Central Convention Complex next January.
 
The three-day event is sponsored by The Daily Telegraph and runs from 6 to 8 January 2012. The show has signed up 100 exhibitors including Thomas Cook, P&O Ferries and Princess Cruises.
 
The show's chairman and organiser John Fish told EN its headline new feature is the Marks and Spencer holiday wear fashion show. The retailer has committed to inviting 50,000 of its premier customers along to the event.
 
Other new features include Las Vegas-style entertainment from Pontin’s Bluecoat shows and a dedicated video theatre promoting travel destinations information supplied by exhibitors. The show also has a travel talks programme.
 
The Discover Daily Telegraph Holiday and Travel Show attracted 41,000 visitors in 2010 and has been buoyed by exhibitors increasingly inviting their own existing and potential customers to the event, Fish said.
 
He praised the team at Manchester Central for their assistance during the exhibition’s 25-year tenure at the venue.
 
“Now one of the biggest and the best venues in the country, Manchester Central’s iconic architecture coupled with its contemporary design makes it an impressive setting for our fantastic event,” Fish said.
 
Fish has organised the Discover Daily Telegraph Holiday and Travel Show since its inception in 1987 when the Queen opened its doors. 
 
“When we started the show, it was so simple to run an exhibition – nowadays, it’s incredibly difficult,” he continued. “The regulations, which run into thousands of pages around health and safety, security and fire are a nightmare.”
 
A more recent trend has been the increase in price-conscious consumers looking for better value travel deals and UK staycation options, he continued. The next edition’s largest exhibitor is VisitEngland, which has “picked up the slack left by regional tourist boards who have had their budgets cut," Fish said.
 
Manchester Central sales director and deputy CEO Paula Lorimer was pleased to be welcoming the consumer show in 2012.
 
“Our longstanding relationship with The Discovery Daily Telegraph Holiday and Travel show demonstrates our commitment to providing our customers with a premium and flexible space and service that helps them to create successful events the way that they want them,” she added.

Manchester Central recently adopted the AEV's eGuide.
 
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